Teaching audiences to view films actively
By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Oliver Laxe
Starring: Amador Arias | Benedicta Sánchez | David de Poso | Elena Mar Fernández | Inazio Abrao
Diane says: “A convicted pyromaniac returns home after prison time. Home is his elderly mother’s simple cottage in rural and remote Galicia, in northwest Spain. We know from the title that fire will come again. But don’t expect a thriller or
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Sunao Katabuchi
Starring: Chisa Bandai | J. David Brimmer | Masao Agawa | Romy Beckman
Jason says: “MAI MAI MIRACLE is charming. It’s a nostalgic memoir about growing up as free-range kids, but we can use all the good ones we can get before we run out of people who grew up that way. Nicely
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Frank Capra
Starring: Adolphe Menjou | Barbara Stanwyck | Charlotte Henry | Dorothy Peterson | Ralph Bellamy | Thomas Jefferson
Thom says: “Here’s an early film from Hollywood legendary director Frank Capra (IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, LOST HORIZON, YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU, MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, MEET JOHN DOE, ARSENIC & OLD
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 1.5 cats
Director: Chad Hartigan
Starring: David Lennon | Jack O'Connell | Olivia Cooke | Raúl Castillo | Soko
Michael says: “Another film that started off strong, with a great premise, that really crashed and burned for me, and as time has passed, I’ve been trying to decide why this film ultimately failed for me, and I can’t quite
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Kate McLean | Mario Furloni
Starring: Cameron James Matthews | Frank Mosley | George Psarras | Krisha Fairchild | Lily Gladstone | Michelle Maxson
Michael says: “FREELAND started off promising, as Devi (Krisha Fairchild), a former hippie and successful marijuana dealer with a large farm in California, struggles to transform her grass-roots, (illegal) sole proprietorship, into a legitimate business in competition with big national distributors,
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.6
Director: Ekwa Msangi
Starring: Jayme Lawson | Joie Lee | Nana Mensah | Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine | Zainab Jah
Michael says: “Told in ‘Rashomon’ style, from three different points of view, FAREWELL AMOR is a complex and difficult story of a family trying ti come to America from Angola after the Civil War. Walter has been in New York
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Christian Petzold
Starring: Anne Ratte-Polle | Franz Rogowski | Jacob Matschenz | Maryam Zaree | Paula Beer
Michael says: “Apparently German director Petzold, has built up quite a following with his last three films (TRANSIT, PHOENIX, BARBARA) and his latest, UNDINE, is a bit of a change of style for him. An undine is a mythical water
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Arturo Ripstein
Starring: Ana Martin | Carmen Sa linas | Fernando Soler | Gonzalo Vega | Lucha Villa | Roberto Cobo
Thom says: “My brother has a dear friend in Seattle who’s a great film scholar and aficionado and he recently recommended Mexican auteur Arturo Ripstein with some 60 films credited to him. In fact, he’s still working. His films have
Read the review...By Michael Colford
Rating: 3.5 cats
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Billy Postelthwaite | Colin Firth | Daniel Mays | Dean-Charles Chapman | George MacKay | Pip Carter
Thom says: “This highly-praised WWII film by the talented Mendes (AMERICAN BEAUTY) is especially impressive with its technical gifts following two British soldiers as they navigate a rough battle path trying to avoid bombs, bullets, & accidents hoping to deliver
Read the review...By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 2.5 cats
Director: Sonia Kennebeck
Chris says: “Matt DeHart, a ‘hacktivist’ charged with a crime he claims he didn’t commit is a fascinating subject for a doc/expose, but this format, heavy on reenactments and shocking reveals, does him no favors. In the tradition of CITIZENFOUR,
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